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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

#806: Bobby Jindal

Piyush “Bobby” Jindal is the current governor of Louisiana
(he chose the nickname “Bobby” based on The Brady Bunch), hardcore nut and
close ally of fellow creationist Rick Perry.
For our purposes his most important qualification for an entry in this Encyclopedia
is his zealous and continuous war on science. Part of the reason he continues
to combat science (and reality) is that he is unable to distinguish it from
politics; thus volcano monitoring, for instance, is for Jindal a form of political work.

In 2008, Jindal signed into law the Louisiana AcademicFreedom Act,
a rather blatant attempt to introduce creationism into the classroom (also here;
it is worth mentioning that it was bipartisanly sponsored by Democrat Bill
Nevers and Republican Frank Hoffman, and that one of its most vocal opponent was
Republican representative Dan Claitor). Under the law, teachers are protected
from “discrimination” or job loss if they independently decide to introduce
material on controversial topics, specifically (explicitly) “evidence” against
evolution and global warming (and “human cloning”, which isn’t exactly properly
characterized as a scientific theory). There is a good website devoted to this
bullshit here.

The bill has already produced its intended results.
In 2010 The Livingston Parish School Board, for instance, took steps to insert
creationism in their schools. Board member David Tate said: “We let them teach
evolution to our children, but I think all of us sitting up here on this School
Board believe in Creationism. Why can’t we get someone with religious beliefs
to teach Creationism?” Fellow board member Clint Mitchell responded, “I agree …
Teachers should have the freedom to look at creationism and find a way to get
it into the classroom.” That it is unconstitutional apparently doesn’t matter
that much to the zealous wingnuts of rural Louisiana, as long as it’s Jesus. As
Jindal himself said:
“Bottom line, at the end of the day, we want our kids to be exposed to the best
facts. Let’s teach them about the big bang theory, let’s teach them about
evolution, let’s teach them – I’ve got no problem if a school board, a local
school board, says we want to teach our kids about creationism, that people,
some people, have these beliefs as well, let’s teach them about ‘intelligent
design.’” In other words, the “best facts” are hardly a selection criterion. (One also wonders what the “less good facts” might be - those facts that don't fit Jindal's preconceptions?)

More recently, Jindal backed a voucher program intended to
allow students to transfer to private schools from underperforming public,
which was implemented in a manner that deliberately encouraged students to choose
schools that emphasize creationism. Instead of funding public schools, Jindal
directed the money toward private religious schools. Of course, there was a
backlash when the dimwits of the Louisiana Congress discovered that Muslim
schools would also be eligible for the funds intended for religious schools (you can see representative Valarie Hodges be absolutely shocked that the bill
she signed but didn’t read first would allow anything but Christianity to be
taught in publicly funded schools here).

Jindal claims to have personally battled a demon while a
student at Brown University. When a member of his prayer group suffering from
emotional distress and a skin cancer diagnosis collapsed during a prayer
meeting, Jindal and his fellow students did not seek medical aid but began to perform
an exorcism instead. The victim tried to flee but was physically restrained by
the group. Jindal claims that the exorcism was successful and also miraculously
cured the woman’s skin cancer.

There is a decent Jindal resource here.
To really blow your irony meters, here is Jindal expressing his concern about the future of the Republican party: “We’ve
got to stop being the stupid party.” Words fail, but this is worth a read.

Diagnosis: A wingnut’s wingnut and fundamentalist denialist,
who has already abused his position to win a few battles against civilization and
reason. Extremely dangerous.